Quay Arts is hosting a new exhibition celebrating the wide-ranging creative output of Isle of Wight writer and artist Fran Heath.
Retrospectrum opens at the Clayden Gallery on Saturday 13th June and runs until Saturday 11th July 2026.
Writing, illustration and painting
Fran works across several disciplines, writing literary fiction as well as creating comics, and has both written and illustrated a children’s picture book exploring the gender stereotyping of toys.
She has also produced a compilation of drawings made from her daily dreams.
Her paintings take influence from abstraction and surrealism, using geometric shapes, block colours and hard edges on canvas board to create a distinctive visual style.
From everyday objects to three-dimensional worlds
Fran also constructs boxed three-dimensional models she calls Dire-Ramas, which incorporate retro doll’s house furniture, unusual secondhand finds, and her own small sculptures.
The starting point for each Dire-Rama is often the objects themselves, with the humorous, surreal and nostalgic qualities of her finds guiding the work that grows around them.
Retrospectrum runs at the Clayden Gallery, Quay Arts, Newport, from Saturday 13th June to Saturday 11th July 2026, open daily from 9am to 4pm.
Follow Fran Heath on Instagram.
